But then the spacecraft’s parachutes — essential for the safe return of the astronauts — failed in some tests. Both joined NASA's astronaut program in 2000, they are both married to fellow NASA astronauts and they are fathers. ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, left, and Doug Hurley wave as they leave a news conference after they arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in … Photographers prepared remote cameras for the Crew Dragon launch on Tuesday. “I wanted to bring some humanity to this very deeply technical effort as well.”. Mr. Hurley offered a more serious answer, talking about how he enjoyed working together with a close friend. Trump pardons Bannon, other allies on final night in office, Biden plans 'dozens' of executive actions in first days, Monarch butterfly population moves closer to extinction. But NASA and SpaceX officials more often than not just call the pilots of this historic mission “Bob and Doug.”, “I wanted to make sure everyone at SpaceX understood and knew Bob and Doug as astronauts, as test pilots — badass — but also as dads and husbands,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president of the company that built the Crew Dragon spacecraft that will carry the men to orbit, at a news conference this month. Over 48 hours ago NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were bobbing in the Gulf of Mexico inside SpaceX Dragon capsule and today the pair conducted a … In a video released by NASA ahead of the launch, the two were bashful when asked about what makes the other great and joked with each other like longtime friends. SpaceX Update, Aug. 2, 11:54 a.m. PT: Crew Dragon has successfully splashed down. “And yes,” he said, “the celebratory vomiting at the end of the mission will be excellent.”. AP. There are a lot of similarities between Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. The craft brought NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the space station after a launch on May 30, 2020—the first vessel to carry humans into space from U.S… The astronauts Robert L. Behnken, left, and Douglas G. Hurley, donning their spacesuits during a dress rehearsal of SpaceX’s uncrewed In-Flight Abort Test in January. The St. Ann, Missouri, native has logged more than 708 hours in space and flew on two space shuttle flights in March 2008 and February 2010. We'll be there in a second." [When to watch SpaceX’s next NASA launch of astronauts. After nearly a 24 hour journey, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, near Pensacola, FL. He then completed master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. The space station is short-staffed at the moment, so Mr. Behnken and Mr. Hurley will stay longer to pitch in with operations. “One of the things that’s really helpful for us as a crew is the long relationship that Doug and I have had,” Mr. Behnken said this month during rounds of interviews with reporters. Mr. Behnken said he and Mr. Hurley were quickly and fully informed about the incident and the subsequent investigation as well as changes to the design. He has also logged more than 37 hours of spacewalking on six different occasions, according to NASA. The SpaceX Demo-2 successfully launched with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, and is making its way to the International Space Station. Spacecraft Commander Doug Hurley and Joint Operations Commander Bob Behnken have “Captured the Flag” as the first crew to reach the ISS … Last October, the astronauts said they still had confidence in the spacecraft. Behnken is married to fellow NASA astronaut K. Megan McArthur and has a young son. “Certainly, it’s disappointing,” Mr. Hurley said. Ahead of the launch, Hurley shared an image that his son drew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft on Instagram. On Saturday, May 30, Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken became the first astronauts to launch to orbit from the United States in almost nine years. They’re best friends and veterans of the astronaut corps, and each is married to another astronaut. MORE: NASA's SpaceX launch scrubbed due to weather, next chance on Saturday, MORE: SpaceX and NASA set for 'milestone' launch of astronauts to the International Space Station. Hurley is a native of Apalachin, New York. What happened? NASA Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley’s Scientific Journeys aboard the Space Station Docking their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station in May completed the first part of the mission for NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on the first crewed test flight for the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). SpaceX Falcon 9, with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken in the Crew Dragon capsule, lifts off from Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. They have one son. More disconcerting, the Crew Dragon that had made the successful trip to space exploded on a test stand while being fueled for a test firing of its thrusters. The Crew Dragon launched successfully on Saturday. Hurley is married to fellow NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg. The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but rescheduled due to inclement weather. Both joined NASA in 2000 — two of the 17 astronauts selected by the space agency that year. ], On Wednesday, weather permitting, two NASA astronauts, Robert L. Behnken and Douglas G. Hurley, are to be sitting on top of a SpaceX rocket headed to orbit. They will probably spend at least a month in orbit, and the stay could stretch to four months. On August 2nd, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to Earth inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. No one was on board, and no one was hurt, but a video of the explosion leaked online. He piloted space shuttle missions STS-127 (July 2009) and STS-135 (July 2011), the final flight of the space shuttle program. For space missions, usually planned in precise detail, this trip is unusually open-ended. Mr. Hurley, 53, grew up in Apalachin, N.Y., outside Binghamton. Mr. Hurley flew on the final space shuttle mission in 2011. Mr. Hurley and Ms. Nyberg’s son, Jack, is 10. “You get questions from your family. AP. Behnken is a U.S Air Force colonel and test pilot, while Hurley is … Behnken, from Missouri, and Hurley, from New York, both became astronauts at the same time, coming from similar backgrounds. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley strapped into Crew Dragon prior to the launch scrub May 27. Their Crew Dragon capsule docked with the station on May 31. The road to the launchpad has been longer than had been expected and planned. Hurley and Behnken are married to fellow members of their 2000 astronaut class at NASA: newly retired Karen Nyberg and Megan McArthur. Astronaut Doug Hurley is all set to launch off to the International Space Station along with astronaut Bob Behnken with the Demo-2 Crew Dragon launch. The men’s trip to the space station will be the first from the United States since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, and Mr. Behnken and Mr. Hurley, friends and colleagues for two decades, have traveled remarkably similar paths to this moment. Douglas Gerald Hurley (born October 21, 1966) is an American engineer, former Marine Corps pilot and current NASA astronaut. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), launching Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride aboard the company's newly designed Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley, left, and Robert Behnken wave as they walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Pad 39-A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 27, 2020. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the NASA astronauts who operated SpaceX’s successful human test flight using the Crew Dragon capsule, will host a … He launched into space for the third time as commander of Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first crewed spaceflight from American soil since STS-135 and became one of the first two astronauts, together with Bob Behnken, launching aboard a commercial orbital spacecraft in sp… “So I got the thumbs up from him and in the end, that’s all that matters.”. “I think it’s a pretty cool looking vehicle and my 10-year-old son certainly thinks it’s a cool vehicle with a cool name, Dragon,” Mr. Hurley said. "It's inspiring to me and I'm just excited to be a part of it. Eva Claire Hambach/NASA TV/AFP via Getty Images. They have each flown to space twice on space shuttle missions, although never on the same mission. Hurley was the pilot for STS-127 and STS-135 and he will also be piloting the Dragon Crew spacecraft. Robert "Bob" Behnken and Douglas "Doug" Hurley have been best friends for years, though they've never flown to space on the same mission in their … When we get to that opportunity to do that in the water together, it’s kind of a weird thing to say, but I’m looking for that kind of celebratory event.”. After a successful uncrewed test flight of a Crew Dragon to the space station last year, it looked like Mr. Behnken and Mr. Hurley would soon follow on their mission. But the other part of it, you have to keep in mind, is this is test, evaluation development, and it’s part of the process.”. This still image taken from NASA TV, shows the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, with astronauts Bob Behnken (front) and Doug Hurley, at Launch Coomplex 39A in Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 27, 2020. Bringing spaceflight capabilities back to the U.S. is important to him so that his son can witness him launch, Behnken said in a video released by NASA. “It feels kind of like one of your close family members having a great lifetime achievement,” she said, “and really, that’s what it is.”, Meet Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, SpaceX’s First NASA Astronauts. Mr. Behnken has devoted time in the huge pool that NASA uses to rehearse spacewalks and Mr. Hurley has taken refresher classes on the operation of the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm. Behnken, 49, a veteran Air Force test pilot, was first selected as an astronaut in July 2000. NASA recently made the decision to extend the Bob and Doug Show a bit longer than the two weeks originally planned. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley blasted off to the International Space Station on May 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon rocket. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/science/bob-behnken-doug-hurley.html Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were the first NASA astronauts to fly to and from orbit in a spacecraft built and managed by the private company SpaceX. Mr. Behnken said he was looking forward to the splashdown at the end of their mission before adding, with a grin, “I’m expecting a little bit of vomiting, maybe, to happen in that end game. … "Endeavor welcome to the International Space Station. On Wednesday (May 27) at 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT), astronauts Robert "Bob" Behnken and Douglas "Doug" Hurley will strap into a Crew Dragon vehicle … "Being an astronaut has been a little bit of an abstraction thing for him because he’s seen me do it in old videos but he hasn’t seen me do it for real. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley, are settling in on board the International Space Station (ISS) after arriving aboard the first commercially built and operated US spacecraft to transport humans into orbit. Mr. Behnken and Ms. McArthur’s son, Theodore, is 6. He's flown on two spaceflights and will make a third, historic spaceflight as … NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are about to strap into SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, making them the first people that Elon Musk's company will … NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley participate in a test of critical crew flight hardware on March 30, 2020, at a SpacerX processing facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. “Giving us insight and sharing that understanding as we go forward has been part of what has made us comfortable with this team going forward,” Mr. Behnken said. "On a deeply personal level, I’m really excited that my son is going to get a chance to see me launch into space," he said. Both are former military pilots who rose to the rank of colonel — Mr. Behnken in the United States Air Force, Mr. Hurley in the Marines — before deciding they wanted to go even higher. Mr. Hurley, right, with Mr. Behnken and Elon Musk during a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in 2019. the huge pool that NASA uses to rehearse spacewalks. Hurley and Behnken were expected to live and work aboard the space station for two or three months, and then return to Earth for a splashdown in … Doug Hurley is a NASA astronaut and retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel. After just over two months at the International Space Station, NASA Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley began their journey back to Earth on Saturday, August 1. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will have performed duties and conducted experiments as crew on board the ISS for several months. They even share the same taste in music. “We’re kind of at the point in our experience — whether it’s flying in the T-38 or executing in a SpaceX simulation or approaching and docking to the International Space Station — where we, in addition to finishing each other’s sentences, we can predict, you know, almost by body language, what the person’s opinion is or what they’re going to do, what their next action is going to be.”, The rapport and good humor between the astronauts was evident in a video created by NASA. "Endeavor copies. Meet Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the two engineers who became Space X astronauts On the 30 th of May 2020, after four years of preparation, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley lifted off at 3:22 p.m. EDT in the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tulane University. With pleasure. SpaceX and NASA are set to launch two American astronauts to the International Space Station on Saturday, in the first crewed mission for Elon Musk's private space company. Here is everything you need to know about Hurley and Behnken, the astronauts NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has called "truly the best of us.". Other astronauts who could have been in this spotlight, including Nicole Mann — one of two NASA astronauts assigned to a future flight on another spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner — do not begrudge Mr. Behnken and Mr. Hurley. Mr. Hurley is married to Karen Nyberg, who spent nearly six months on the International Space Station in 2013 and who retired from NASA at the end of March. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley give the thumbs-up from inside Crew Dragon after splashdown. Mr. Behnken, 49, is a native of Saint Ann, Mo., graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with degrees in physics and mechanical engineering. Please come aboard." When he's not flying to space, he enjoys hunting and spending time with his family in the Texas Hill Country, according to his official NASA biography. Now Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are about to fly together in one of the most important launches NASA has attempted in years: a crewed test flight of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft … Saturday's SpaceX Demo-2 test flight is also historic in that it would mark the first time in nearly a decade that the U.S. is sending American astronauts into space from American soil, ditching an expensive dependency on Russia for seats to space. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, who flew a 63-day mission with SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle, are the first people the company ever launched to orbit and returned to Earth. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken greet their families before the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., May 27, 2020. Doug Hurley has been serving in NASA since 2000 and is a veteran of two spaceflights.